Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Africa: Analysisretaliation. That case was pending in late year.Far from viewing press revelations as negative, international developmentofficials say the publication of information about governmentperformance fills critical gaps in official data reporting. Even when a nationsuffers negative short-term consequences from a critical news story, theysay, it benefits from being perceived as having a transparent society with apress that serves as a check on power.For international donors, press revelations fillimportant gaps.“In Uganda, the publication of the amount of money reaching primaryschools led to an increase in this amount,” the World Bank’s chiefeconomist for Africa, Shantayanan Devarajan, pointed out in an e-mailinterview with CPJ. Anga Timilsina, coordinator of the U.N. DevelopmentProgramme’s anti-corruption effort, said press scrutiny expedites theachievement of Millenium Development Goals, eight anti-poverty benchmarksthat world leaders have committed to reaching by 2015. “The pressdefinitely has a role to play in achieving the [goals] through a range ofactivities … making the governments and donors responsive and accountableto their promises.”In fact, journalists such as the award-winning Ghanaian reporter AnasAremeyao Anas have recorded spectacular successes in naming and shamingthe perpetrators of corruption, child abuse, and human trafficking.As the press pursues investigative stories, he said, it has an obligation tofocus on the public good and to avoid a fixation on taking down politicalfigures. “You catch the person hand in soup,” said Aremeyao, known for hisundercover work. “But you give them an opportunity to explain because inthe explanation, you find a solution, i.e., ‘I did so because the governmentis not paying us well.’”Mohamed Keita is CPJ’s Africa advocacy coordinator.23